Gusset plate

Design Procedure

Traditional methodology employs general beam theory structural mechanics to analyze the gusset plates and estimate design stresses along a critical section. One of the assumptions of beam theory is that the individual components of stress caused by shear, axial force and bending can be decoupled from the aggregate complex stress state and analyzed independently without a significant loss in accuracy.[1][2] Below is outline of the design steps:

stress check:

determine axial forces in members connecting to a joint with gusset plate

determine gusset plate critical sections

consider portion of the gusset plate on one side of the critical section and determine (from equilibrium with member forces using free body diagram) shear, axial force, and moment (V, P, M) acting on the critical section

using V, P and M, calculate stresses in the gusset plate and compare with allowable stress